By Zack Quaintance — Check out some of these quotes without context that I took from Monstress #22: Calm yourself, short-lived being. .... There was a war. There is always a war. War is the deadliest child of the living… …As the poets say, victory is a pair of twins named boldness and caution. I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point—I doubt I will soon read a comic with better writing than this one. Marjorie Liu is one of the industry’s best, from her long-form plotting to how she uses simple turns of phrase like those above.

By Zack Quaintance — Let’s start at the beginning of Road of Bones #1 (I’m told that is generally a very good place to start): artist Alex Cormack delivers one hell of an establishing shot. I’m a sucker for grandiose scene-setting in comics, and this book certainly delivers that. Road of Bones #1 introduces us to its world and subject matter with a detailed and gritty splash depicting a snowy prison camp within 1950’s USSR. You can practically feel the cold as the prisoners shovel and the guards scowl, ready to reprimand (beat down) any who step out of line. It’s one hell of an intro, perfectly chosen for this story about gulags and hopes and impossible odds and the compromises men make for…

By Zack Quaintance — It’s official, Guardians of the Galaxy has now reached that rare stratosphere of superhero comicbook, wherein I end up reading it in the front seat of my car before even leaving my local shop’s lot. If you’re reading this book, you’re likely nodding in agreement right now. This story has just been so rich with twists and turns and break-neck pacing that it demands that kind of urgency. It’s the type of book that pushes you to pick up your pull list just a little bit earlier that day, because…

By Jarred A. Luján —Gideon Falls is back this week, once again thrusting readers into the mostinsane mystery happening in all of modern comics. This is a series wherein almost every single issues has left its audience with bigger questions than it went in with. Gideon Falls #13 is no different….

By Zack Quaintance — Little Bird #1 was, simply put, one hell of a comic. You can read more about it in my Little Bird #1 review (obviously), but for our purposes today I’ll just note the book grabbed readers with its striking and imaginative aesthetic, before plunging them into one of the most searing sci-fi dystopian plotlines I’ve yet to see in a comic. It felt urgent, like its creators had something important they needed to say and they needed to say it right now. Oh, and—SPOILER ALERT—the titular Little Bird gets shot through…

By Zack Quaintance — I’m not shy about saying this: Wasted Space is one of my favorite creator-owned comics. It’s a space opera in the most grandiose sense, one that features a band of plucky rogues fighting to save the galaxy while dealing with their own issues, agendas, pasts. It’s a book that through eight issues now has built a tone and voice that are so versatile, the story can now do everything from high sci-fi action to deep philosophical monologues over a pint (or several) of space brew. This is all evident….

By Zack Quaintance — Throughout the first three issues of this series, the real carnage has been a bit understated, with death and monsters often regulated to shadows. Last issue we saw that start to break. This issue, it’s totally gone. The opening sequence is a bloody one, in which we see the supernatural creatures at the heart of this story in the light of day. It’s fantastic….

By Zack Quaintance — First things first, Excellence #1—the new comic from Brandon Thomas (Horizon, Catalyst Prime: Nobel) Khary Randolph (Mosaic), Emilio Lopez, and Deron Bennett—has an incredibly powerful opening scene. And it’s not the usual comicbook thing of fiddling with time to put an explosion, violence, or death up front. No, in Excellence #1 the opening scene finds its power in the universal while at the same time setting the tone for the themes that will….

By Zack Quaintance — Welp, it finally happened. After four full months and a fewveryclosecalls, we have our first perfect 10 comic of 2019. It is (as one has likely already surmised by this headline) Eve Stranger #1, an absolutely perfect debut comic. There’s a powerful one-two punch on the surface of this comic that really makes it go go go from the first page…

By Zack Quaintance — With this issue, Marvel’s massive War of the Realms event hits its halfway point, which is as good a time as any to discuss how it’s been so far. I’d like to focus primarily here on the main series of this event. The tie-ins are another thing, and we don’t have space for them here, so let’s instead take this comic as the third in a six-part series, independent from the auxiliary titles. In that context, it’s been very good, especially for any readers (like myself) who have followed Jason Aaron’s long Thor run…